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Uttam Kumar, arguably the greatest Bengali actor of the post-WWII period, plays another iconic actor, Arindam Mukherjee, who is expected in Delhi where he is scheduled to make an appearance at a prestigious event to receive an important award. The trip from his home town to his final destination is a long one, well over 1,000 miles, which means that he must spend almost two full days on a train.
On the train he is haunted by prophetic nightmares whilst also striking up a friendship with an editor of a women’s magazine. Over the course of the long journey he gives her a candid interview revealing his past and how desperately he has tried to cling to his success at the expense of his friends and morals.

Nayak is a thoughtful meditation on life and stage, being and appearing, through the eyes of a man pondering where he is and where he wants to go next.

BD50 + DVD9 | 1080p AVC, NTSC 4:3 | 01:57:20 | 42.1 Gb + 7.05 Gb
Language: Bengali
Subtitles: English

Director: Satyajit Ray
Cast: Uttam Kumar, Sharmila Tagore, Bireswar Sen
Country: India
Genre: Drama

Extras:

• Sharmila Tagore - in this archival video interview, edited by Criterion for this release, actress Sharmila Tagore recalls her work with Uttam Kumar and Satyajit Ray during the shooting of The Hero and discusses the visual style of the film and some of its key similarities with Federico Fellini's masterpiece 8 1/2. The interview was recorded by producer Nasreen Munni Kabir in 2008. In English, not subtitled. (12 min, 1080p).

• Meheli Sen - in this new video interview, Meheli Sen, associate professor of cinema studies at Rutgers University, discusses some of the unique themes in The Hero, its narrative structure and style, and Uttam Kumar's performance and legacy. The interview was conducted exclusively for Criterion in 2017. (25 min, 1080p).